St Peters RC Church Hamilton

“Why do you spend your money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”
Isaiah 55 v 2, 3
How or where do we recognise clearly
The evidence of Your love for us, Lord Jesus, that abundance?
After Your resurrection, when two disciples met You
Walking along, talking together in a familiar way,
Yet even then they did not recognise You,
Until the memory was jogged in the breaking of bread.
Is this in any way similar for us?
Do we not see you although invisibly, always sacramentally?
And surely the pinnacle of this blessed experience
Is found on the regular ground of the holy Eucharist?
Then we know You as the promised Bread from heaven.
“O LORD, You preserve both man and beast. How precious is Your loving kindness…They are
abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house and You give them drink from the river of Your
pleasure.” Psalm 36 v 6, 7, 8
You show us how to live, as by love You nourish us.
How recognisable this should be, dear Lord!
Each worldwide celebration of the holy Eucharist, accomplished daily,
Is Your love beyond all telling.
It is that very same love You showed to Your disciples
Just before Your Passion in Gethsemane
And Your crucifixion upon Calvary.
At the supper table, You took bread and broke it.
Preparation was being made for all the centuries following,
In our sharing of Your holy body made bread.
“ ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.” Exodus 16 v 4
Also in Your blood as poured out at the †,
Mysteriously, miraculously coming to us in a wine chalice,
That we be purified ready to be sanctified.
You were and are even now preparing us
For the joy of Your eternal feast,
Awaiting us in the kingdom of heaven.
The traditional feast of unleavened bread,
Became for the disciples and us
That love beyond all telling or imagining.
Even beyond asking or longing,
When through Your suffering You accepted death for us.
“ ‘I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep’.” John 10 v 11
Taking all our sinfulness upon Yourself,
You willingly accepted crucifixion as punishment,
- That which was actually due to us –

That after the †, You went to prepare a place for us.
Our homeland in heaven, therefore we must make preparation.
The highest, holiest, most precious way to accomplish this,
Is to feed on Your holy body and blood.
That we gain a greater sense of God’s love and mercy.
All praise, all thanks, all glory ever be,
For the mercy poured out over us at the †,
For the revelation of the means of sanctification.
Our new life in the Lord Jesus, Spirit led, Spirit fed,
We are a new creation, heaven our destination!

“Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are You, Father… for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere
children. Alleluia!” A Gospel Acclamation said during Mass
“ ‘Do not labour for the food which perishes, but the food which endures to everlasting life, which the
Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him’.” John 6 v 27
Lord Jesus, I thank and praise You for feeding and nourishing our faith with Yourself, the
Bread of Life. I know this is so because You said it, You are the truth and truth does not lie.
The significance of our communion with You in the holy Eucharist is profound indeed, making
the difference to us between experiencing heaven, when we will remain in the company of the
Trinity eternally, and hell, which is our final and total separation from You, for of the Trinity
Matthew 6 v 13 we say with conviction “ ‘Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory’.”
I am reminded that when the bread from heaven was promised to Your people in the
wilderness, Father God You said “ ‘At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought
Exodus 16 v 6 You out of the land of Egypt’,” the release from captivity.

As we too, feed on the Bread from heaven, Your beloved Son, our Saviour, we in our turn are
freed from captivity to satan and sin. “ ‘And in the morning you shall see the glory of the
v7 LORD’,” the Israelites were told. For us, it is by Jesus living in us, we honour Your glory.

We feast on the true riches of holiness. Really words cannot be found to express sufficiently
what this honour, the privilege means to us, for as we partake of such love, its power is
overwhelming.
Psalm 3 v 8 Thank You that “Your blessing is upon Your people” profoundly each and every time we
receive the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, He who takes away the sin of the world, inviting
us to share in His holiness, by which we delight You.
“I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice
Psalm 30 v 1 over me. O LORD my God, I cried out to You,” in desperation and frustration, seeking to
find deeper meaning to life.
v2 “You healed me” taking away that empty feeling of futility and discontent. “O LORD, You
brought my soul up from the grave” by sending me Your Spirit to introduce me to my
v3 Saviour Brother. “You have kept me alive, that I should not go down into the pit.”
Ever I will try to praise and thank You dearest Father, for the amazing grace of our salvation,
for opening up heaven as a destination, for gifting me a true conviction of faith by the meeting
with the Lord Jesus, whilst calling on the Spirit, poured out upon us through the Lord Jesus’
death and resurrection.

Psalm 36 v 5 “Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens,” and with steadfast loving kindness You reach
down to us through Your beloved Son, our Redeemer, so well able to save us from the enemy,
for He is righteous.
It is only by living in Jesus, His love alive in us according to the working of the Holy Spirit,
that Lord, holy Father, we can give of our best to You, asking You to accept us, our prayer and
our praise.
How precious is this love. May we ever be strengthened in our faith, in our prayer, in our
Christian service, by the Bread from heaven, “…and you who seek God, your hearts shall
Psalm 69 v 32 live.”
How marvellous it is to feel truly alive, fully alive, fed and nourished on the holy body and
blood of our Savour by the Spirit of love, active even to performing miracles.
By means of the holy Eucharist, through our adoration of the Lord Jesus, as we invoke the
Holy Spirit of love to come to us, help us please to know Your love dearest Father, for it is that
love which makes us who we are intended to be, Your sons and daughters.
based on “And we have seen and testify that You have sent Your Son as the Saviour of the world,
1 John 4 v 14, 15 realising that whoever confesses that Jesus is Your Son, You abide in them and they in
You.”
“And we have known and believed the love that You have for us,” for this is our personal
experience of turning to Jesus as being our Saviour, so that as “You are love, anybody who
abides in love” – all thanks to the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit for enabling this – “They
based on v 16 abide in You and You in them.”
The experience of receiving the Lord Jesus so intimately as in holy communion, this is the
1 John 5 v 12 pinnacle of our faith, for “(S)he who has the Son has life” fullness of life now and the joy of
eternity.
Thank You that to know the Lord Jesus is to know the true life sustaining power and to feed
off Him is to partake of His holiness, all being made righteous. How indebted we are to receive
the Lord Jesus as promise.
“ ‘I am the Bread of Life. (S)he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and (s)he who
John 6 v 35 believes in Me shall never thirst’.” “ ‘…the bread that I shall give is My flesh which I shall
v 51 give for the life of the world’.”
Herein is the promise which never fails us, for to partake of the Lord Jesus in the holy
Eucharist, is to prepare us for the heavenly banquet awaiting us. All praise ever be to Your
glory, almighty Trinity. Amen.

01.05.20